Monday, March 30, 2009

I must admit, I've been a little slack with the blog. It's about time I got on top of it. =) So here goes.

Last week's show was a blast. I did an interview with Charlotte Corbeil-Coleman, author and workshop artist for Highway 63: The Fort Mac Show, playing in Motel. It was an interesting discussion and it brought to light many of the social and environmental problems that Fort Mac is facing.

This particular show we were missing Yvonne, who happened to be soaking up the sun in Hawaii! Lucky! It was tough doing the show without my alter-ego to bounce my lofty ideas off of. Yvonne is so good at keeping me on track... However, this was counter-balanced by the fact that I received an obscene amount of phone calls. I want to thank everyone who phoned in. Believe it or not, it's really great to hear from all the listeners out there. Sometimes when you are in the booth alone like that, it can feel a bit like you are broadcasting in a vacuum. Like the outside world has undergone some drastic nuclear catastrophe and you are locked alone in a vault broadcasting endlessly to a world wrought with deadly zombies, mutated humans, and anarchical gangs that loot and kill everyone they find. And here you sit, broadcasting radio messages out into the vast nuclear landscape, hoping at least one person is out there. Someone normal, like you, who will hear your distress call and answer you back so that you feel, if only for a fleeting moment, that you are not alone...

Well, maybe it's not that bad. But you get the point. You never really know if anyone is listening.

Kirti Bhadresa from Calgary Dollars was kind enough to come down for the second half of this show, and tell us all about the benefits of building and participating in a local economy. Everything you've ever wanted to know about Calgary $, as well as a tonne of resources on local economies and currency systems, can be found at their website - also look for their monthly newsletter that comes out with fast forward, Calgary's awesomest free weekly paper. If you don't live in Calgary and would like to learn more, look for a local currency project in your area, or build one yourself!

ARUSHA!

Soapbox Derby is sponsored by the awesome folks down at the ARUSHA CENTRE - a collectively run, member-supported organisation that provides resources and programming on local and global social justice issues.

We think it's a great fit, and we're truly honoured to have the support of Arusha. THANKS!

LISTEN!

We think we do a pretty swell radio show, and we'd like for you to listen to it. "The derby" airs from 9-11am MST on Thursdays - but you can listen to all kinds of outstanding programming on CJSW 90.9fm, 24/7.

Use your grampy's transistor radio if you live in southern Alberta, or tune into live streaming audio in a multitude of formats, from anywhere in the universe, right here.

WE'RE ALL EARS...

Do you need to hop up on the soap box? You can drop us a line right here. We welcome comments, requests, suggestions, and information on whatever conscious stuff you've got going on.